L’Oréal launched a new device called the Cell BioPrint, designed to give people a detailed breakdown of their skin quality in five minutes.
The French cosmetics company has long operated at the intersection of beauty, science, and technology. Its new skin assessment tool, launched at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, will give people more precise information on their skin type, saving them the trouble of an “auditioning” process with various products.
“One of the things that I noticed is that people, especially in skin care today, are completely lost on what product to use,” Guive Balooch, the head of augmented beauty and open innovation at L’Oréal, told Fortune in an interview. “It's only through tech that we can give people this kind of answer and take the guessing game out of skin care.”
Existing ways of discovering products have limitations—speaking to people at a beauty counter doesn’t give customers enough details on their skin beyond the surface level. At the same time, social media has a deluge of opinions on good and bad products that influence people’s choices rather than concrete data on what might be a good match for their skin. As a result, a majority of beauty consumers feel overwhelmed.
L’Oréal’s tech incubator has been working with Korean startup NanoEnTek for about seven years to build Cell BioPrint, which measures different biomarkers—molecules underneath the skin packed with information about skin health.
The device, which is the size of a hand, just needs a tape strip of the skin to drill down on the skin's biological age, how inflamed it is, how prone it is to drying, and more. It’s also geared toward understanding the skin’s longevity, an area that’s attracted much attention as people go to inventive lengths to reverse aging.
L’Oréal makes skin care products for various needs—from anti-wrinkle creams to skin-brightening serums. Still, Balooch, who holds a PhD in biology, insists that L’Oréal’s objective with Cell BioPrint isn’t to sell more of its products.
“We want to give people insight that they choose the right product,” he said. The global skin care market is estimated to be worth $125 billion in 2024, and a bulk of its consumers still lack information, including on aging and day-to-day skincare needs.
“In 2030, 1.4 billion people will be over 60 [years old]. People [who] are younger today are adopting much more longevity habits, they're trying to understand how they can optimize their well-being.”
L’Oréal will launch the device with one of its luxury brands, of which YSL Beauty and Lancôme are a part, likely at the end of 2025, Balooch said. He declined to share how much was invested into developing Cell BioPrint.
The Paris-headquartered L’Oréal launched new tech products at recent CES editions, including last year’s AirLight Pro, a hair dryer for professional stylists, and an eyebrow makeup applicator the year before.
While most consumers interact with L’Oréal through its everyday skin care and cosmetic products, science-based innovation has been at the company's core since its founding by a French chemist in 1909. The company’s dedicated incubator, launched in 2012 with bases in France, the U.S., and Japan, aims to build tools that complement its wide array of products.
“We need to make sure that we give people the right level of science and data,” said Balooch. “If we don't do that, people could get advice from places that [are] not based on science, or not based on facts.”
